Breedon continue to make good progress

Chairman comments on company’s performance and prospects at Annual General Meeting

SPEAKING at yesterday’s Breedon Aggregates AGM, chairman Peter Tom CBE said trading in the first three months of 2016 had been in line with the company’s expectations, despite a slow start to the year in Scotland.

‘Our major capital investment programme has continued, with a new £3 million asphalt plant at Tom’s Forest Quarry in Scotland now under construction and due to be commissioned shortly,’ he commented.

‘We continue to make good progress with pre-integration planning for the acquisition of Hope Construction Materials, and we also welcome the positive response from the Competition and Markets Authority regarding the undertakings we have offered to alleviate its concerns over competition in a limited number of local ready-mixed concrete markets.

‘As we indicated…in our formal response to the CMA’s announcement, we fully expect to be able to finalize the required undertakings to the CMA’s satisfaction and complete the required divestments in the near future, paving the way for completion of the acquisition later this summer.’

He continued: ‘The outlook for our industry continues to be positive, with Office for National Statistics estimates suggesting a pickup in construction activity since December 2015 and the Mineral Products Association forecasting double-digit growth in volumes of all our key products over the next three years, although the timing and scale of some major projects are still likely to be subject to change and the forthcoming Referendum may create uncertainties in the short term.

‘Against this backdrop, we remain confident of delivering a performance in line with market expectations for 2016.’